"Marriage, in my culture, has nothing to do with romance. It's a matter of logic"
Obviously, Soka, Naro, and the majority of the Cambodian characters in "Children of the River" agree with Firoozeh's family. I think it's a pretty common issue for immigrants, a huge difference in our cultures. I've read a lot of books where that is the problem, two people fall in love but-OH, NO- one of them is already arranged to be married. Two of those books were Once Upon a Curse and Knight in Shining Armor, which are romance novels which both have happy endings.
"Since Iranian flavors are quite different from the flavors found in American convenience foods, most of the purchases ended up in the trash can "
In Sundara's, family, the kids like the food, but the adults aren't very big fans at all. The flavors in America are just not the same as the flavors in different countries. Another memorable scene was when Soka made her turkey. The Cambodians all complained about how flavorless turkey is, but they made it anyway. A Knight in Shining Armor also included food tasting experiences, but rather than across borders, it was across decades. The 16th century guy loved the taste of ice cream and brownies, but hated the taste of present-day tea. Taste buds might be the slowest to assimilate!
And when we read Romeo and Juliet we will see this theme yet again.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a good bumper sticker-taste buds are the slowest to assimilate.